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Accepted
Amey Jah
Asked: 2012-12-14 14:38:39 +0800 CST

Low graphics error unless I boot via recovery mode [duplicate]

  • 772

I recently upgraded to 12.10 (fresh install). I am a facing weird problem:

When I boot, I get a message notifying me of low graphics. For now, I have been switching to console using Alt+F1 and then rebooting.

Upon reboot, I select recovery mode, allow system to boot and then again reboot.

Now I select normal mode and my graphics load smoothly.

Could you please tell me what could be the issue? I have a Dell Inspiron 5230 with Intel 4000 onboard graphics.

boot

4 Answers

  1. Your question appears similar to this one although you mention you have an Intel GPU (it could be unrelated).

    Basically, it looks like LightDM (the default greeter/login screen) can sometimes get a bit confused if you've installed other packages or something has gone wrong with its configuration.

    Here is a relevant bug report, though possibly for a different version: https://bugs.launchpad.net/lightdm/+bug/971891

    I think the best (least destructive) advice there is the following:

    sudo dpkg-reconfigure unity-greeter
sudo dpkg-reconfigure lightdm

    Hopefully that should fix it!

    You could also make sure that the ubuntu-desktop metapackage is installed.

    Some of the advice in that other question seems suspect to me, either because it involves installing random PPAs or it simply doesn't apply to people with Intel graphics.

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  2. Best Answer

    It has absolutely nothing to do with the GPU. It's a problem with LightDM and SSDs (or some other "abnormally fast" piece of hardware, Nvidia cards cause the same issue)

    Try adding 

    respawn

    below 

    stop on runlevel

    In /etc/init/lightdm.conf

    Often times, if you run into this error, you can hit

    [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [5] to enter a terminal. Login and try 

    sudo lightdm start

    If that doesn't yield anything try

    sudo service lightdm restart

    As a side note, my SATAIII SSD was connected to the SATAII port on my logic board when I ran into this issue. Verify that your main SSD is on the correct port before you try anything.

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  3. I gave this same answer here. If this situation applies to you, these seem good workarounds.

    For Intel integrated graphics on Core processors, it seems that lightdm is the culprit and workarounds are add a delay in rc.local or install and use gdm. Launchpad seems to think that lightdm is too fast at querying for a display and people are saying SSDs can contribute to this race condition. Not sure if this would help you.

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  4. Try going into system settings, and under the "Additional Drivers" section, click on that. Their might possibly be an available driver for the card. I would use the recommended driver if any. That makes my graphics really smooth. Good luck!

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